Stea

Where Is Ascona?

The three of them are filling in soccer betting slips and drinking cold beer. About the beer they seem to agree. Over the match results there is much argument. Cut my head off if these don't lose, the one in an otter fur hat says. The one in the very large rimmed hat

In An Empty Room

Grandfather has turned 90. This event has immediately brought to our attention the need of finding someone to look after him. He is all by himself in his flat. His sons and grandsons have no time to pay him but short visits. He is so bored. He quite rarely leaves his flat.

Hypnosis

On one of the central avenues I ran across a very good friend of mine, one of the most gifted poets of our generation. Shall we have coffee together? Of course! So we entered a restaurant. It goes without saying that what with one thing and another, coffee was followed by

Blind Man's Buff

It's two o'clock in the afternoon. In Mr. Nae Huiduma's inexpensive eating house (various hot and cold meals for prices that defy any competition) there are no more customers. The last one, Mr. Codica, from the Clerk's Office of the court, has left as

The Apprentices Of Saint Anthony

excerptIAfter Shrovetide Reverend Ghelasie, mighty tired after the evening of Shrovetide that expended to till the matins service, spent in the company of his friend and neighbor Ghervasie, opened an eye only when the early March sun, also fatigued, cast a reddish-yellow

The Gods' Humor From Vishnu To ... Caragiale

God Himself had a great sense of humor when He allowed us to be born into this world… The gods' smile is a kind of gentle answer to human ignorance, but also the preparation of the human mind for understanding the mystery. Why are mysteries also revealed through

Local Civilization

'Make your stores - they're cutting it off,' calls the bobby, pushing the entrance door ajar. And every member of the household hurries to grab a pail, a mug or any of the tinier pots and pans, dashing forward to the tap (the house is endowed with a tap -

Long Autumn

In our parts, at Jassy, autumn starts late in May and lasts until Christmas. There is no summer in Jassy. If from time to time, winter did not come we could say we have only autumn over here. Nice weather begins with foul smells, green flies and heat. Then it turns nasty.

Ismail And Turnavitu

excerpt Ismail is made up of eyes, whiskers and an evening gown and nowadays he is in very short supply in the market. Formerly, he used to grow in the Botanical Garden too, and later on, thanks to the progress of modern science, one has managed to produce one chemically,

The Uninvited Guest

It was past midnight. I had gone to bed a long time ago but sleep refused to come. I was permanently lulled between sleep and wakefulness by the same strange dream. I woke up with a start: somebody must have knocked at the front door. I heard the knocking again. Rather dizzy

The Keys

Mitzu and Barutzu have grown up some and started conspiring. In the brief reprieves between a lot of hair-pulling and two-way jostling, with their generation's interests in mind, they eventually realize they are in duty bound to organize against the big guns: Mummy

Rădoaia

The leader of a new political party has just written to me from Bacău. I quote:I have wandered the snows of the county for a few days now. I've had very little rest, but have walked and talked quite a lot instead. The electoral problem consists in wiping off the oratorical